North Battleford city council is moving ahead with a request from owners of a strip mall to rezone a location on 100th Street.
In doing so, council is going against administration’s recommendation to turn down the request of owners of Parkview Square Ltd. to rezone 1462 - 100th Street from C3 Commercial to C1 Downtown Commercial Zoning District. Council narrowly voted 4-3 to defeat administration’s recommendation not to approve the rezoning – a win for the proponents.
The rezoning would allow the accounting firm Holm Raiche Oberg to move into the location at 1462 - 100th Street and set up offices there. The directors of Parkview Square Ltd. are partners with the accounting firm.
The concern from city planning was that rezoning to C1 would run counter to the city’s Official Community Plan, which was designed to concentrate large offices in the downtown core. The 1462 - 100th Street location is just north of the boundaries of the current C1 Downtown district and also outside of the boundaries of the downtown Business Improvement District.
The accounting firm’s principal, Dallan Oberg, spoke in support of rezoning, saying his accounting firm was looking for space to expand. He cited better visibility on 100th Street where four other competing accounting firms were located.
Oberg said they had looked at options on 101st Street in the downtown and also on 103rd Street, but those would not have provided the visibility and competitiveness they needed, he said.
The next steps for council are to move ahead with a text amendment to the zoning bylaw. The indication from City Planner Ryan Mackrell is they will now look at wording that will extend the C1 zoning to the entire block.
That amendment process will be a public one with notices sent out to properties within 75 metres. First reading of the bylaw amendments is likely to come up at the next council meeting, with second and third reading likely to happen in January after the public consultation.
